The inherent strengths of Java in the areas of dynamic, wireless configurability and platform independence make it an ideal choice for the deployment of next-generation telematics systems. Consider a situation in which new legislation requires detailed real-time tracking of hazardous loads carried by commercial vehicles. The framework discussed in this paper uses a Java-compatible platform, PERC , to facilitate rapid development of applications to handle such a situation. Following development, these applications can be downloaded from a single central location onto all commercial vehicles of a fleet using a variety of wireless technologies without the vehicles ever having to leave the road. The use of PERC, a JDK 1.3 compatible embedded Java virtual machine, means that application development and testing, together with environment simulation, can be performed on a standard desktop machine making full use of the advanced development and debugging tools available for the Java platform. Furthermore, the fact that the framework may be running on a variety of different hardware platforms within a fleet and using a variety of wireless protocols is completely transparent to the application developer. The paper opens with an introduction of challenges facing the commercial/fleet telematics industry. This is followed by a description of the vision underlying the embedded telematics Java framework and its connection using wireless networking to server systems. The main body of the paper discusses specific requirements generated by this vision and describes the overall architecture of the system together with specific implementation details. Particular reference is made to tradeoffs made due to hardware constraints, wireless communication costs, dynamic configurability, and platform independence. The paper closes with specific system use case examples and a summary conclusion.
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